Dr. McGann has a background in chemistry, with an emphasis on physical chemistry. His core area of expertise is in the development of molecular, polymeric, and carbonaceous materials for energy storage systems. His strengths lie in using advanced characterization methods to understand structure-performance relationships, and he leverages this experience to provide support to clients from a variety of industries.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. McGann was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on the development of solar thermal fuels, a class of organic molecules that store solar energy for future on-demand use as heat. His graduate research at Carnegie Mellon University was spent working with highly-ordered nanoporous carbon materials derived from the pyrolysis of block copolymer precursors for improved energy storage devices, including lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors. Using a combination of characterization studies and computational modeling, he developed a multi-scale understanding of the heterogeneous material that was employed to optimize its performance in devices. Dr. McGann also has worked at Bayer MaterialScience, where he worked on the processing of carbon nanotubes as well as polymer materials for antifouling coatings.